Comments on: Don’t edit this (Milkcrate Mix)

By: Post of the Week » Blog Archive » Shortlist for the week ending August 31,2007

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 13:12:35 +0000

[...] My Mental Milkcrate: Donâ€™t edit this (Milkcrate Mix) nominated by An Unreliable [...]

By: drodbar

drodbar — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 19:12:15 +0000

I really appreciate these wise thoughts. Is it actually possible to write without in some way positing some sort of imagined audience, I wonder? Blogs are a fascinating development in that they enable easy communication of one’s most private thoughts to a potentially vast audience who know nothing else about you. The relationship between ‘writing for oneself’ and writing for an audience is different in this new medium, I think.

By: Jess

Jess — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:41:07 +0000

Mr. Witness – Yes, I found out about your elsewhere and am not entirely certain that this post is as polished as it ought to be. But since it’s out of my hands, I thank you for thinking it’s better than I do. :) It could be a manifesto I suppose; it was intended as a formal declaration of my writing intentions, and I consider myself accountable to my words (which I don’t think I’ve done before).

bohÃ©mienne – I think you’d be hard pressed to find a writer that didn’t have mixed feelings about the purpose of her writing. I don’t think the purpose of writing matters. The questions that should supercede “Why do I write?” are “Do I want write? If so, do I want others to read what I write and can I be selective in the reactions I take to heart?” Because in the end, it is all about whether or not you rattle away at a keyboard or take up a pen and whether you can be okay with wherever that takes you.

Melograna – It all comes together: “Iâ€™m only interested in measuring myself against myself, at the moment, and I feel as though Iâ€™m lacking the markers to do so.” That’s a much trickier issue, and perhaps only comes from adopting others’ markers until you can find your own. I’m glad I could make you think. :)

miles away – Your comment length isn’t any cause for apology. If I really didn’t want people to write long reactions, I would find a way to set a word limit. Which Mr. Witness would find a way to get around anyway. ;)

By: An Unreliable Witness

An Unreliable Witness — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 08:02:13 +0000

As I said somewhere else, this almost reads like a manifesto – although we would surely be too humble to claim it as such – for those of us who write creatively, and just happen to do so via the medium of a weblog, rather than just posting a shedload of links or telling our reader(s) what we did at the weekend. Thank you.

By: bohÃ©mienne

bohÃ©mienne — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 03:46:25 +0000

I have such mixed feelings about the purpose of my writing. I’d like to believe that I’m writing what I want, what needs to be written, with maybe some awareness of audience, but not for them. But what I really believe is that nothing is truly done without being affected by the knowledge of audience and potential reaction. I may think that I am putting my thoughts and words out there because I just “need to”, that I’m writing for myself only, but I’d be kidding myself. Everything I know influences me at all levels, even when I don’t realize it. Each post is written with the readers in mind, somewhere in mind.

By: Melograna

Melograna — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 23:12:27 +0000

I could write a whole other post just riffing on this one, and may well do so at some point when not sleep-addled.

I agree in principle about the self indulgence/objectivity argument – it’s just one of my preoccupations at the moment, and I suspect it’s related to another point you made about writing for specific people. My aim right now is to NOT write for a specific person/audience as I have in the past, but just for myself – and this thought has been playing in my mind all day. I’m only interested in measuring myself against myself, at the moment, and I feel as though I’m lacking the markers to do so. However, you’ve made me consider that from another perspective.

I have about a hundred other things to say, but am lacking in cognitive ability right now.

I loved the post, and thanks for making me think :)

By: miles away

miles away — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 09:23:09 +0000

an absolutely wonderful post. sticking things together by the way they sound and basing things on a collection of good-sounding syllables is much “fun”. (that’s not meant in sarcasm – just fun possibly isn’t the best word, perhaps “enjoyment”.

But it is very experimental, yes, and in many ways writers / authors / anyone with a keyboard can also write whatever they wish, and gather an audience…plus digital type can be awfully transitory…

sorry about the length of this comment, but I very much enjoyed this post.